Research Catalog

Title

Mountains and memory / Robert L. McGrath.

Author

McGrath, Robert L., 1935-

Publication

• Chicago : Center for American Places at Columbia College : Distributed by the University of Chicago Press, 2012, ©2012.
• ©2012

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

x, 167 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

"From Egypt's Abu Simbel to South Dakota's Mount Rushmore to Tan Swie Hian's Earth Art Museum in China's Quingdao National Forest, mountains have long been shaped to resemble human personages, including pharaohs, presidents, and painters. Mountains and Memory explores this practice and traces the history of anthropomorphism-- the attribution of human qualities to non-human nature-- as expressed in the form of carvings on mountainous rock formations. Anthropomorphism can be understood as either perceptual, wherein natural forms are perceived as bearing human likeness, as is the case with New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain, or conceptual, wherein mountains are shaped sculpturally into human form, exemplified by Mount Rushmore. In both cases, the author argues, memory is enlisted to impose meaning on otherwise inchoate rock formations. In addition to exploring the theme through examples of actual mountains, the author also considers paintings and prints that impose human forms onto mountains and discusses projects that are still in development. In its range and attention, Mountains and Memory offers a unique look at mountains as the subject of both art and collective experience."--Publisher's description.

Subjects

• Nature (Aesthetics)
• Mountains in art
• Anthropomorphism in art
• National monuments
• Monuments in art
• Geology in art

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Contents

Introduction -- Mountain-As-Man -- A City Upon the Hill -- The Great Stone Face : Sermons in Stone -- The Mountain of the Holy Cross : The Kingdom of God in America and the Rocky Road to Redemption -- The Ames Monument and Beyond : On the Fast Track from the White Mountains to the Black Hills -- Woman-as-Mountain -- Men to Match the Mountains -- From Stone Mountain to Mount Rushmore -- Holiness In High Places.

ISBN

• 9781935195276
• 1935195271

LCCN

40022066400

OCLC

• ocn760972843
• 760972843
• SCSB-5683357

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries